


Moving Forward

by BigFootGirl



Series: Onwards [1]
Category: This Way Up (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Mention of Suicide Attempt, trigger warning, tw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:48:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23532592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BigFootGirl/pseuds/BigFootGirl
Summary: Áine and Richard are moving forward with their relationship.
Relationships: Aine & Etienne, Aine/Richard, Richard & Etienne, Richard/Aine
Series: Onwards [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1694239
Comments: 2
Kudos: 19





	Moving Forward

**Author's Note:**

> TRIGGER WARNING: Just a reminder that there's talk of why Áine went to the "spa."

It had been six weeks since Richard not-so-subtly let Áine know that he was interested in dating her. Once they had gotten all of the awkwardness and miscommunications out of the way, Áine had put down guidelines:

Etienne came first. That was something that they were both in agreement on. He had lost his mother, moved to a new country where he barely spoke the language, started a new school, and moved in with the father he barely knew. He may have come a long way since Áine had first started tutoring him, but there were always going to be moments where he needed the adults in his life to give him more.

They had to openly communicate. Richard, while not as closed up and English as he had been when they’d met, still struggled with actually saying what he meant at times. Áine, who had always used humor as both communication tool and coping mechanism, needed to be more direct at times. They may have been grown-ups, but adulting was a challenge for even the most mature of people.

A few months later, Áine’s tutoring of Etienne had officially ended. She still kept up unofficial sessions whenever she was at their house, and it had become a way for the two adults to not only get to know each other better, but to establish their own way of communicating. It was during one of these visits, while Etienne was working on an art project for school in his room, that she told him what had happened to her all those many months ago.

“I was so alone and sad, but the term is apparently ‘depressed’, and I didn’t know what else to do…So I just took the pills…And then I kept taking them, until Shona found me…” She stopped and looked down, fiddling with the mug in her hands. It was clear she didn’t know what else to say, and she was starting to get antsy in that way that signaled she was uncomfortable.

Richard had sat in silence while she talked. He had always felt that there were things in her past that she had kept quiet, and he was astute enough to realize that she would tell him when and if she was ready. He took the mug from her, placing it on the coffee table, and turned back, taking her hands in his. The physicality of their relationship was still slow, limited to handholding and hugs and the occasional cuddle that he now realized they had both sorely needed. He kissed her long, pale fingers, then her hands, before enveloping her in a hug and kissing her head.

He didn’t know what to say, so he just kept up the hug, letting it morph into a cuddle as they slowly made their way down to lie on the sofa.

They must have drifted off, because suddenly they were being inundated with the resident twelve-year-old waking them up by telling them off.

“What are you doing? I do not need to see these things!” he shouted as he walked into the kitchen.

Stretching, Áine turned to the man she had been using as a pillow. “Well, Richard, it looks like there’s officially a teenager living in your house. Best get a room, eh?”

Walking past them again with a glass of water in his hand, Etienne gave the adults a withering look that only those on the cusp of being teenagers are capable of giving before going back up to his room.

Richard groaned.


End file.
